A strong need exists for dentists to have an alternative to traditional methods for evaluating dental crown contacts during a crown insertion procedure. Incorrect contact of a crown and adjacent tooth is one of the most common causes of improper seating of a crown by a dentist. During a crown insert procedure the dentist typically evaluates the fit of the interproximal contacts to ensure the crown is not wedged between one or more adjacent teeth preventing full seat of the crown. At present there are several common ways of evaluating the contacts. A dentist may manually position articulating paper at the contact area to mark the crown, a dentist may floss the interproximal contact, or a dentist may spray a colored spray on the crown and then evaluate where the spray has been displaced after seating the crown. Each of the listed methods have disadvantages.
The articulating paper method is ergonomically difficult. The dentist must position the articulating paper at the contact site of a dental crown either by hand or with an articulating paper holder while simultaneously seating the crown with another hand, and also maintaining sufficient isolation of the tongue and cheek. The process typically involves four-handed dentistry, and is challenging for the dental professionals as well as patients due to limited space for multiple hands all attempting access to the same area of the mouth. U.S. Pat. No. 1,458,062 describes a “paper adapted for use by dentists in the securing of articulation impressions of the teeth of a person for the accurate manufacture of false teeth or sets of such teeth.” The patent describes common articulating paper which is used by many dentists to evaluate occlusion as well as crown contacts but does not, however, offer a convenient method for utilizing or positioning the articulating paper. U.S. Pat. No. 5,851,114 describes a kit containing instruments for facilitating insertion of dental crowns. The said kit contains a “ribbon forceps used to grip a thin precut test ribbon and hold the ribbon in the patient's mouth vertically on either the front or back side of an artificial crown being placed.” The ribbon forceps “tests and marks the area of interproximal contact of the crown or inlay as well as the amount of pressure of the contact.” Although the tool aids to help position the articulating paper, the method of use requires a healthcare provider to manually position the ribbon forceps which can be ergonomically challenging, and does not appear to reduce the number of hands required to evaluate the contact via this method.
A second method, the floss method of checking crown contact, is imprecise for identifying where the new crown needs adjustment. The process involves a dentist seating the crown onto the crown prep. The dentist then flosses the mesial and distal areas to determine if the fit is tight or loose. The method allows the identification of a fit problem, but does not allow a dentist to evaluate precisely which area of the interproximal requires adjustment. The adjustment of a crown contact by a dentist after only flossing becomes a blind guess in attempting to correct the fit problem which could lead to excessive adjustment in areas of the interproximal.
A third method, the spray method of checking crown contact, is disadvantageous because the process is messy. U.S. Pat. No. 3,707,771 describes an “aerosol spray of composition of matter” which is commonly used by dentists to evaluate occlusal contacts and interproximal contacts during crown insert procedures. During this method, a dentist sprays a marking spray onto the new crown on the interproximal, and seats the crown. The dentist then removes the crown, evaluates where the spray has been displaced, and may adjust the crown in the areas indicated. After adjusting the crown, however, there is often residual marking spray remaining on the crown and the adjacent teeth which can be difficult and time consuming to fully remove prior to cementation. The spray technique furthermore is difficult ergonomically as the dentist must be cautious to not hold the crown in the area of the interproximal to avoid unintentional smearing of the spray.
The presented invention comprises a precise, ergonomic, economical, and efficient method for evaluating crown contact.